Algonquin Books Blog

Readers of all ages, kids at heart or by birthday, will enjoy these tales of youth. The September Lucky Stars selections ring loud and true with the voices of unforgettable characters at tender ages. Get your dose of youth with these e-books, all for $1.99 apiece this month!

Good Kings Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum:Bellwether Award winner Susan Nussbaum’s powerful novel invites us into the lives of a group of typical teenagers—alienated, funny, yearning for autonomy—except that they live in an institution for juveniles with disabilities. This unfamiliar, isolated landscape is much the same as the world outside: friendships are forged, trust is built, love affairs are kindled, and rules are broken. But those who call it home have little or no control over their fate.

Good Kings Bad Kings challenges our definitions of what it means to be disabled in a story told with remarkable authenticity and in voices that resound with humor and spirit.

Seventeen-year-old Sahar has been in love with her best friend, Nasrin, since they were six. They’ve shared stolen kisses and romantic promises. But Iran is a dangerous place for two girls in love—Sahar and Nasrin could be beaten, imprisoned, even executed if their relationship came to light.

So they carry on in secret—until Nasrin’s parents announce that they’ve arranged for her marriage. Nasrin tries to persuade Sahar that they can go on as they have been, only now with new comforts provided by the decent, well-to-do doctor Nasrin will marry. But Sahar dreams of loving Nasrin exclusively—and openly.

Then Sahar discovers what seems like the perfect solution. In Iran, homosexuality may be a crime, but to be a man trapped in a woman’s body is seen as nature’s mistake, and sex reassignment is legal and accessible. As a man, Sahar could be the one to marry Nasrin. Sahar will never be able to love the one she wants, in the body she wants to be loved in, without risking her life. Is saving her love worth sacrificing her true self?

Somebody Up There Hates You by Hollis Seamon: Clover Hill is ten years old when her father, the principal of the local elementary school, marries a white woman, Sara Kate. Just hours later, an automobile accident compels Clover to forge a relationship with the new stepmother she hardly knows in this beautiful, enduring novel about a family lost and found.

First published by Algonquin in 1990 and winner of the Lillian Smith Award for Southern literature that enhances racial awareness, Clover is a national bestseller and has been recommended reading for classrooms across the country. Now on our thirtieth anniversary we have the pleasure of republishing this Algonquin classic in trade paperback, with an original essay by the author. In the spirit of Cold Sassy Tree and The Secret Life of Bees, Clover is a witty, insightful classic for readers of all ages.

Clover by Dori Sanders: Clover Hill is ten years old when her father, the principal of the local elementary school, marries a white woman, Sara Kate. Just hours later, an automobile accident compels Clover to forge a relationship with the new stepmother she hardly knows in this beautiful, enduring novel about a family lost and found.

First published by Algonquin in 1990 and winner of the Lillian Smith Award for Southern literature that enhances racial awareness, Clover is a national bestseller and has been recommended reading for classrooms across the country. In the spirit of Cold Sassy Tree and The Secret Life of Bees, Clover is a witty, insightful classic for readers of all ages.

With that opening sentence we are introduced to the eleven-year-old heroine of Ellen Foster, a stunning novel by Kaye Gibbons. Ellen Foster tells her own story, with an honesty, a perceptivity, and quite unselfconscious heroism. Her mother dies. She stays with her father until it becomes too dangerous. She lives with a teacher, a grandmother who blames her for her father’s marriage, then with an aunt. At the close she discovers a home where at last she is wanted and loved.

Ellen Foster takes things as they come. She judges people shrewdly and well. Her ties with her black friend Starletta are beautifully revealed. Her own courage, her humor, and her wisdom are unforgettable. Kaye Gibbons’ first novel is one to be read over and over. The little girl’s absence of self-pity, her determination, and her gratitude to those who help her, make her a heroine who lives beyond the printed page. She takes a place in our hearts.

You will love Ellen Foster: Once you read it, it will be unforgettable.